This Morning The Republicans & ISIS Have Me Searching For A Desert Isle Hermit Refuge

This morning I suddenly found myself deciding that I think it may be a good idea to live out what years I have remaining on this planet in utter sublime isolation.

Googling for desert isle refuges or ghost town hideaways brought me no useful information.

I am not sure what the tipping point was which pushed me over the brink into thinking being a hermit was a really good idea.

It may have been reading yesterday that the demented criminal barbarians who call themselves ISIS had taken a group of 13 Iraqi boys who had been watching an Iraqi soccer match on TV, to a public square where they were executed by machine gun fire after an announcement to the watching  crowd informing those watching that the boys were being executed for their serious violation of Sharia Law of watching soccer on TV.

Did this actually happen?

If this did actually happen did I miss that emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, called to finally do something serious about this latest Islamic aberration, which calls itself ISIS?

Back when Hitler was doing his dirty deeds, murdering millions of Jews, and others, in Death Camps, there was no United Nations, there was no mass world-wide communication via television and the Internet. Most of humanity had  no idea, til the war was over, just how evil Hitler and his Nazi minions were.

Had the world known, would more have been done to stop the slaughter of innocents in gas chambers? I would have hoped so.

But, judging by the world's reaction to the ongoing ISIS atrocities, murdering innocent boys, beheading innocent men, terrorizing a wide swath of Iraq and Syria, with there really being no meaningful world reaction that I've made note of, well, I don't know if the Internet and world-wide mass communication would have been of any use against the Nazi evil either.

And then there was last night's POTUS SOTU speech. I thought this was the best State of the Union speech of Obama's reign. If only he had a Democrat majority in Congress to give the world some hope that some of which he proposed might actually to pass.

But, somehow Americans voted last November to give the Republicans a majority in both Houses.

This morning the thing that seems to have bugged those Republicans the most of what Obama said last night was when he reminded the Republicans that he had twice won election to the presidency, with that remark coming after derisive Republican applause when Obama said he'd run his last campaign.

Out of all that was said last night by the President, this retort by the President is something Republicans want to focus on? With all that is going on in the world worthy of focus, this is something to complain about?

I just grow tired of it all. Whether it is the world issues, like the ISIS barbarians, or the national issues, like the Republican barbarians, or the local to Texas issues, with even more barbarians. With not much of anything being done to thwart the barbarians.

With so many barbarians storming the gates I really just want to pull the plug and make it all go away.

In the meantime, it is time for lunch....

What Sort Of Moronic Broadcaster Would Tell Listeners Obama's Lies Are Worse Than Watergate?

If you answered "Rush Limbaugh" you are correct.

When I was in Arizona this past March I was a little appalled to find out my mom listens to Rush Limbaugh. Then I figured out she listens to him for the same reason I do, that being that he can be amusing and ridiculously aggravating, with his insipid rantifying, at times.

My mom can take listening to Rush Limbaugh longer than I can stand it. At the longest, I can listen to a half hour, usually way less.

The ridiculous nonsense has been amped up due to the election next month, that and there having been a Democrat in the White House for almost 4 years.

Limbaugh can say the stupidest stuff, and then repeat the stupid stuff over and over again, with, I guess, no one in his audience telling him he is wrong, even though the listener may know he is wrong but does not call to wise the man up.

In the past week, in the short periods I listen to Rush, I have heard him repeat, multiple times, that no president has been re-elected with the unemployment number being 8% or above. Apparently Mr. Limbaugh has never heard of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Some of the right wing nutjobs, like Limbaugh, have been crusading conspiratorially that the unemployment figures are the result of the Obama administration somehow cooking the books, because if the unemployment number were 8%, or above, come election day, no way could Obama be re-elected, because no incumbent ever has.

Except for FDR, whom Limbaugh neglects to mention. Or does not realize was an American President.

And now we've got the cadre of so-called Conservatives, who really aren't conservatives, but are more accurately identified as being irrational reactionaries, screaming that Obama and his administration's supposed lies, regarding the deadly consulate attack in Benghazi, are worse than Watergate.

To say such a thing is just embarrassing, much more embarrassing than that whole not knowing FDR got re-elected when the unemployment rate was above 8% embarrassment.

Read part of Limbaugh's rant from today's radio show, as transcribed on Rush Limbaugh's website, in an article titled "Obama's Libya Lies: Worse Than Watergate" and you'll get a good dose of the whacked out nonsense that the rightwingers are spewing in their alternative universe.

Anybody else from the regime who went out and tried to blame what happened to our ambassador at Benghazi and in Cairo on this video was lying, big time.  Top officials at the State Department are unwilling to fall on their swords and take the blame for the lies.  The AP, Administration Press, is reporting State Department officials have briefed reporters (all except Fox, they weren't invited) about what really happened at the US consulate there, and they say that they never linked the attack to the anti-Muslim video.

"That was not our conclusion," and the question about linkage is for others to answer, which, if the State Department says we had nothing to do with it, where else did this lie originate? Where else could it have originated? The White House, which is quite telling. This is a major falling out here between the radical left State Department, the radical left White House. The State Department has thrown everybody at the regime overboard and under the bus on this. This ought to be the lead story. I mentioned yesterday or the day before in a brief monologue about how I think the current acceptance of all of this economic deterioration as the new norm is directly traceable to Bill Clinton and his moral failings and our being told that we had to accept that as the new norm.

I made the point here that this is bigger than Watergate. If Watergate were to happen today and it was a Democrat president, it would be tolerated. It would be applauded and praised as brilliant political strategerizing and foresight in thinking if the Democrats did it. But folks, an American citizen is arrested, an American ambassador is dead, three other Americans are dead.

Bigger than Watergate? What's next? Limbaugh demanding to know what Obama knew and when did he know it? Which was one of the classic Watergate questions, as in, what did Nixon know and when did he  know it?

Watergate was an epic scandal, a once in a lifetime scandal, the only presidential scandal that led to a president resigning.

And Rush Limbaugh thinks Benghazi-gate is worse than Watergate?

I tell you, Rush Limbaugh is a cautionary tale of the bad things that can happen when somehow an uneducated man, who barely made it out of high school, who did not go to college, is given a microphone where he can reach out to millions, like himself, who also lack the critical faculties needed to accurately process incoming data without blowharding their wanton Know Nothing-ness.

The Know Nothing Party arose in the 1850s. It's official name was the American Party. In the presidential election of 1856 former president, Millard Fillmore was the Know Nothing nominee. Fillmore had been a Whig, but the Whig Party was no more.

Fillmore's Know Nothing campaign slogan was "I Know Nothing but my Country, my whole Country, and Nothing but my Country."

The Know Nothings where known for being xenophobic and anti-Catholic, with other groups also targeted, like Irish and German immigrants, because the Know Nothings thought the country was being over-run by these groups. Hence the Know Nothings wanted to curb immigration and naturalization. Only male Protestants of British lineage could become a Know Nothing.

Do you see any commonalities between the Know Nothings of the 1850s and the Rush Limbaugh type self-described conservative Know Nothings of the 2010s?

Which brings to mind that saying that goes something like "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it."

Methinks the modern Republican Party may be doomed to becoming known as the Second Coming of the Know Nothing Party, and, in its place, a new party will rise. This happened many a time in the past. Not so much in the last 100 years.

But, as recently as 1912, Teddy Roosevelt ran for president on the Progressive ("Bull Moose") Party ticket and came in second to the Democrat, Woodrow Wilson, with Roosevelt's successor, William Howard Taft, the incumbent Republican, coming in 3rd with only 8 electoral votes, with Roosevelt getting 88.

So far, Taft has been the only incumbent American President to come in 3rd place in a bid for re-election. I don't know what the unemployment numbers were when Taft suffered his massive defeat.....

The 23rd Day Of 2012 With Artificial Tears Washing The Dust From My Eyes In Texas

Looking closely through the bars of my patio prison cell on this next to last Monday of the first month of 2012, you can not tell if this 23rd Day of the New Year is cloudy, or cold, at my location on the planet.

But, due to the wonders of modern technology, using my computer based weather monitoring device, I can tell you it is currently 41 degrees, partly cloudy and heading to a high of 62 today, at my current location in North Texas.

At my former location, Mount Vernon, Washington, it is currently 39 degrees and raining. It rains a lot at my former location. Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow at my current location. I'll believe it when it gets me wet.

I don't know if more dust storming is in our forecast for today. Last night my eyes were being badly irritated. I had to seek out my Artificial Tears Lubricated Eye Drops to stop the irritation. I am experiencing similar, albeit, not as irritating irritation this morning. But not to the point I have reached for the Eye Drops.

Changing subjects from my favorite one to something else.

This week Mr. President gives his State of the Union address.

In years gone by I used to look forward to this event. I don't know when, exactly, I ceased finding this something I enjoyed, rather than endured. I think it was likely some time during the George W. Bush years. Obama's State of the Union addresses have been really bad, in my jaded opinion.

I am a big fan of soaring rhetoric. I am not a big fan of plodding rhetoric that causes me a wince reflex.

I wish I could say I am going swimming now. But I can't.

Environmentally Friendly Texas Popcorn

I had not thought of air popping popcorn by sticking some in a metal container and setting it outside, til Alma, the Songbird of the Texas Gulf Coast, sent me this picture this morning.

I'd pop some outside right now, except it is only 82 and a bit cloudy. I'm thinking it needs to be over 100, with direct sunlight hitting the popcorn popper, to make it work.

I got up late today, which happens once every few years, so, I canceled my regular early morning swim, because it was no longer early morning by the time I got my usual tasks out of the way.

I did nothing aerobic yesterday, except for the early morning swim. And that really is not all that aerobic. I did not go on a walk or a hike yesterday. I'm am turning into a sedentary slob. I will try to end this slob trend today. Even though it is off to a bad start with that missing morning swim.

I watched all of the Obama news conference last night. I don't recollect the last time I made it all the way through such a thing. I thought he made a compelling, if somewhat vague, case for moving fast on health care reform.

Having seen the medical business up close and personal, about 25 years ago, I was shocked and appalled and disgusted with the business, way back then. The bills had so many mistakes, some outrageous. I was able to catch some of them. How many was I unable to catch? They mixed up my files and sent me in for something called a Gallium Scan, when I thought I was there for a CAT scan. Thinking I was someone else, they had me drink a foul liquid, prior to the test, that was not for me. After an hour of me fussing and asking why the tests had been changed, a couple doctors showed up and apologized for the mistake.

I'm off to take a virtual drive down Route 66 in Oklahoma now. Talk to you later.

America's First Dog Bo Is A Texan

President Obama finally got around to making good on yet one more of his campaign promises, this one being the one he made to his little girls that they could have a pet dog if they moved to the White House.

It has to be a special type dog due to one of the girls being allergic. A Portuguese Water Dog met those criteria.

The First Dog is named Bo. Bo used to be named Amigo's New Hope when he went to his first adopted home. But those adopters did not work out. Bo was not homeless for long before Senator Edward Kennedy bought him to give to the Obama girls.

Who I guess re-named him Bo. Bo Obama has a nice ring to it.

Bo is a native Texan, born in Boyd at Amigo Portuguese Water Dogs. Boyd is a small town about 30 miles northwest of Fort Worth.

So, it did not take Texas very long to get another native son back in the White House.

Bo sure is a cute dog. He reminds me of my nephew, Max.

Obama Sock Monkey

Just a couple days ago the use of the phrase "Obama's baby mama" was causing extreme umbrage and accusations of racism. And now a NAACP rep by the name of Jeanetta Williams is saying a Sock Monkey is "pure racism at its extreme."

The Sock Monkey in question is supposed to look like Barack Obama. It's made by a company in Utah. They have a website, TheSockObama.com. But if you try to go there you likely can't because when I tried I got a bandwidth exceeded message.

The Sock Monkey company has issued a sort of apology saying they "are saddened that some individuals have chosen to misinterpret our plush toy." They claim total innocence regarding any racist element being behind their motive for making the Obama Sock Monkey. They simply were sitting around and made the "affectionate observation of a charming association between a candidate and a toy we had when we were little."

The Sock Monkey people go on to say, "This is only our introductory plush toy. If we choose to move forward with a Republican candidate, we’ll begin with an elongated and slightly lumpy, fuzzy Idaho potato. Had a different Democratic candidate won the nomination, we were prepared to move forward with the cutest, fluffiest 12″ chestnut and golden-haired squirrel, with a short Farrah-like do in a brown pantsuit and call her Squirellary."

I'm thinking King George would be a good candidate for being a Sock Monkey. He certainly looks more like a monkey than Barack Obama does.

Below is a video about the Obama Sock Monkey from a Utah TV News Show.

Hillary in West Virginia Primary

I grow tired of so many Democrats saying it's time for Hillary to give up. Neither she nor Obama will likely have enough delegates to win the nomination by the time the final primary closes.

So, what is so wrong with having an old-fashioned convention where the choice is made at the actual convention?

When Ford had more delegates than Reagan heading into the, I think, 1976 Republican Convention, I don't recollect there being cries for Reagan to drop out for the good of the party.

It's only been in recent times that there's this notion that it's to be all wrapped up by the time of the convention. That may be one reason why the conventions have not been as interesting in recent times.

What if it takes a dozen votes before Obama is finally chosen? What would be so bad about that?

The News Goons and Talking Heads would have such a fun time tracking defections and speculating about deals being made.

It would seem the Democrats would come out of the thing stronger, not weaker.

But, I don't really care about that. I just want to see an old-fashioned convention like the good old days. No Chicago type riots though, that would be a bad thing.

Debating for 4 Hours

Last night, starting at 6pm Central time I hunkered down in front of my tube and turned to channel 8 to watch the New Hampshire primary debate marathon. First the Republicans, then the anti-Republicans. The debates ended a bit before 10, well past my usual bedtime. But I found them so over stimulating I ended up staying up past 11pm for the first time since I was stuck on a redeye flight from Phoenix that got me back here in Texas at 3 in the morning.

The Republican debate seemed to have more entertainment value than the Dems due to the amount of ganging up on Mitt Romney. The moderator, Charlie Gibson, let an actual free-wheeling debate take place. John McCain sort of sat above it all, for the most part, but he also got a zing or two in at Romney.

I love how the others debaters treat Ron Paul like he's some sort of addled grandfatherly nutcase channeling his inner hippie. Ron Paul spews raw common sense, stating what should be the obvious, while the others act as if he is just way too way out there to have what he is saying addressed with any level of seriousness. The annoyingly blowhardish Fred Thompson with his perpetual scowl and worst case of dark eye circles in human history was the most offensive with his condescending to the wonderfully woeful hangdoggy Ron Paul.

If I had to pick a winner of the Republicans in this debate I guess I'd go with John McCain. Huckebee, to me, comes across as a Richard Nixon type with better social skills. I think Mitt Romney came out the worst in this debate. I don't like how he projects himself. He looks like he belongs in movies. I really can't get behind a presidential candidate who is better looking than me. That is just unsettling, even more so when I think I'm more consistent on issues than he is.

Now, the Democrats. Hillary did real well at this debate, it seemed to me. She was actually funny a couple times and not in a way that seemed pre-planned. And she was quite forceful in describing how she'd unleash a nuclear retaliation against any nation-state which harbored terrorists who exploded a nuclear bomb on U.S. soil. Few things are more stirring than listening to a woman describe how she would use nukes to wreak havoc on our enemies. I will admit I was aroused by her rhetoric.

John Edwards I did not like in this debate. His over the top me against the bad guys populist shtick bordered on sounding kookybananas. It is real hard to hear some guy yammer on about how he is going to take on evil corporations and all the bad guys who are keeping the poor downtrodden and miserable while he gets $400 haircuts and lives in his new gazillion square foot home that he bought with money, some might say ill-gotten gains, from successfully bringing lawsuits against deep pockets on behalf of supposed victims. I'm thinking if you care so much about the downtrodden why not take that 400 bucks you spend on a haircut and take a few hundred kids out for a Happy Meal? Personally I would feel much more comfortable doing that than sitting in a barber chair knowing it was going to cost me about a half thousand dollars once I was done tipping. And on another John Edwards note, how do you spend that much on a haircut and end up with that unusual part in your hair that appears to go where no normal part goes???

I'm liking Barack Obama. Previously not so much. I was sort of the opinion that he has not done anything except give a rousing speech at the last Democrat Convention. But last night he seemed presidential. And I liked him. Even Hillary admitted he is very likable. Last night he also seemed more detailed on specifics than I'd heard before, where previously I'd thought all he did was spew a bunch of empty platitudes, like any run of the mill politician.

But, of the four Democrats in this debate (thank God the powers in charge decided to leave that pipsqueak Kucinich and that ridiculous Gravel guy out of it) the candidate I liked best of both the Republicans and the Dems is Bill Richardson. He is likable, he's experienced, he's smart, he's articulate, he's funny, he seems genuine. And I particularly like that he is a bit over weight and his wife does not look all glammed up. He looks like a president. He seems like he could be a great president. He is who I would vote for if I was voting in Tuesday's primary. Which means he does not have a ghost chance of winning.

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So, there is my political diatribe for the day. Now it is time to go out and enjoy this January day in Texas that is heading to a predicted high of 82. That is almost HOT!

To Vote or not to Vote

It is appalling another 4 years has come around with today being the Iowa Caucus. Or as America's Biggest and Most Amusing Blowhard, Rush Limbaugh, calls it, the Buckeye Cauci. Now, just because I mentioned Mr. Limbaugh do not go thinking I'm an arch conservative. I listen to him because WBAP is the only radio station that comes in clear on my cheap headphones I wear sometimes while biking and hiking. And if you've formed a negative opinion about Limbaugh, but have not actually listened to him, give yourself a break and do so. You may find him quite amusing.

It this is an election year it must also be an Olympics year, another event that seems to come around way too soon. It's too early to guess who is going to win the Olympics, but with this election thing it would appear we are going to be stuck with either Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Romney, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Guilliani or maybe Mr. McCain as our next president. Anyone of whom would seem likely to be a fresh breath of competence after what we have endured since 2000.

I went to a caucus once. In Washington. The year Bill Clinton won. Washington has since switched to the primary method. I'm not sure I approve of the caucus method, based on my own personal experience. It amounted to being about 20 people in a stranger's living room, one or two self-appointed know-it-alls, but in actuality know-nothing yappers, dominating the discussion with ignorant blather while the rest of us sat in pained silence. At some point I couldn't take it anymore and interupted with a string of facts that refuted the nonsense I'd been listening to. The details of what was spewed that night has long left my memory banks. But my disdain for the caucus method of selecting candidates remains.

I'm sure you are wondering who I voted for at my one and only caucus. Well, it was not Bill Clinton. At that point in time I could not believe he could go far with what seemed to me to be his sort of phony ways. As often is the case, I was wrong. I voted for Paul Tsongas. I don't remember who actually won our local caucus. I'm fairly certain it was not Tsongas since the only time I've voted for a winner was the second time Reagan won. And the second time Nixon won. Quite a track record.

My guesses as to who is going to win the Iowa Caucus today, thus insuring they will lose, is Barack Obama for the Democrats and Mike Huckabee for the Republicans.

But I don't think Mike Huckabee is going to win next week as he keeps making weird mistakes. Like his reaction to the assassination of Benazir Bhutto when Huckabee said we need to secure our southern border to stop the Pakistanis from entering from Mexico because they are our #2 illegal alien invaders. This is not even remotely accurate and no artful spin could make it so. So, Huckabee somehow thought it logical that of all the nations in the world that somehow poor Pakistanis made it all the way around the world, wandering up through Mexico in such large numbers that they out number people's from other Central and South America nations entering our country. He somehow thought that millions of Pakistanis were invading us, likely for some long-planned jihad that would make 9/11 pale by comparison. And yet the first he raised this dire Pakistani invasion issue was in reaction to the Bhutto killing?? No, I do not think we really need another out of touch, albeit nice guy, being our president. In other words, I am shocked Huckabee won the Iowa caucus, all things considered, even though I thought he would, I just somehow thought the common sense of all those solid midwesterner Iowans would prevail. But it didn't.

So, with my track record of being wrong it'll probably be Hillary and John McCain tonight, with Hillary turning into a steamroller express making the rest of the election on the Democrat side into a big bore.